Call to Action
Five commitments. One shared human family.
Download the PDFToday we meet at another consequential moment for humanity.
We come from traditions older than nations — from scriptures, lineages, and ways of prayer that have carried billions of human beings through every joy and every catastrophe our species has known. We know the extraordinary power of faith to heal, reconcile, and inspire — and the painful truth that religion has sometimes been used to divide, exclude, and justify violence.
We inherit both that legacy and the responsibility that comes with it.
As we gather, cities are under bombardment and families are burying their children. Neighbors who prayed side by side for generations now fear one another. Hatred crosses borders and spreads through our screens, carried by machines that never sleep. Trust in institutions and in one another is weakening, even as new technologies transform how human beings communicate, understand truth, exercise power, and imagine the future.
No government, institution, or technology can carry responsibility for this moment alone. Neither can religious leaders. But there is a responsibility that is uniquely ours.
Across our different traditions, beliefs, histories, and cultures, we affirm something fundamental:
Every human being has dignity, no community is less human than another, and the suffering of another cannot be irrelevant simply because it is not our own.
Unity does not require conformity. Conviction does not require contempt. And defending the humanity of another does not diminish our own.
The question before us, therefore, is not simply what do we believe. It is what are we prepared to do.
What we are prepared to do
1
We will begin with ourselves.
We will examine the words, teachings, institutions, and practices of our own communities first. We will reject the use of religion to justify hatred, humiliation, dehumanization, or violence — and teach that deep conviction can coexist with respect for those who believe differently.
Peace begins with the courage to hold our own communities accountable.
2
We will stand for one another.
We will speak when people are dehumanized or targeted — whether they belong to our community or another, whether they are near to us or far away. And when one of us takes a principled stand for the dignity of another community, we will stand beside them.
3
We will build relationships before we need them.
We will bring our communities together across religious and cultural boundaries — especially our young people — not in response to tragedy, but before it. We will listen to those we have misunderstood, and create ways for people who might otherwise meet only as strangers, stereotypes, or adversaries to meet as human beings.
The person we know is harder to hate.
4
We will serve together.
We will turn shared values into shared work. Across traditions and borders, we will serve where suffering is immediate: among the hungry, the sick, the displaced, the persecuted, and the forgotten. We will support courageous work already underway rather than compete for recognition. Our cooperation should be visible not only in what we say together, but in what we do together.
5
We will take responsibility for the future.
We will use our moral influence wherever human dignity is at stake — in decisions about war and peace, poverty and opportunity, the care of our shared world, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. We will insist that human progress remain in the service of human beings, and that technology strengthen rather than diminish dignity, truth, freedom, and human connection.
These commitments do not end when this gathering ends. We will remain connected, support one another when leadership is difficult, and hold one another accountable for what we pledge here.
And each of us will carry these commitments home.
A global declaration matters only if it becomes local action.
We therefore ask every leader gathered here to undertake one concrete action: bring together people who rarely meet; stand beside a community other than your own; confront hatred where you have influence; create an opportunity for young people to cross a religious or cultural boundary; serve alongside another community; or begin a conversation that has been avoided for too long.
Choose one. Or create another. But make it specific.
Give it a place, a purpose, and a path forward. Tell us what you intend to do. Then tell us what you did.
We are not naive. Religious leaders alone cannot end wars, eliminate hatred, or reverse every injustice. But neither are we powerless.
Every religious leader influences a community. Every community touches another. Every act of courage makes another act of courage possible.
One World. One Humanity. Not because we are all the same. Not because we agree on everything. But because our dignity is shared, our futures are connected, and the world we leave behind will be shaped by what we choose to do now.
- Beginning with ourselves.
- Standing for one another.
- Serving together.
- Taking responsibility for the future.
This is our Call to Action.
Convened by
The World Council of Religious Leaders
We will show up, stand up, and speak up.
Download the Call to Action (PDF)